


Strange Birds

by Friendly_Voices



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Role Reversal, Shy Red
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-16 23:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3506174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Friendly_Voices/pseuds/Friendly_Voices
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liz Keen, the FBI’s most wanted #4, offers sensitive information and her help in eliminating the most dangerous criminals in the world in exchange for immunity. However, she has one condition – she will speak only to Admiral Reddington. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine, obviously.

Red Reddington tilted his head to the side.He stopped moving when he spotted a familiar figure despite Agent Ressler’s urging. The young man was getting on his nerves and he waved him away.

“Harry! Is that you? Is there a reason for all this madness?”

 “Hello Red, it’s good to see you.” Harold Cooper – his good friend and a former colleague – looked a tad embarrassed as he approached him and quickly shook Red’s hand.Ressler stepped aside and disappeared, wisely leaving his superior to deal with Red.

“Could you kindly explain what this is about?”The admiral had been rather perplexed by the sudden appearance of helicopters and armed FBI agents that had swarmed his backyard in the morning, and he certainly did not appreciate that they had ruined his plans for the week.

He had wanted to spend few relaxing days on the sea – he needed to escape his office at least once in a month. He loved his job, but he had quickly started to despise it when he had been chained to his desk and buried under a mountain of paperwork. Red Reddington was not an idle man and the position of an admiral while very gratifying bored him to death.

“Come with me, please.”

“Should I be worried?” He grumbled but followed him. By the look of it, he was an honored guest at one of the holding sites that officially didn’t exist. It was exciting and he was almost ready to forgive his friend for the morning fuss. It made his life a little less tedious, him a little less listless.

Harold remained silent until he brought him before several large flat screens – they were all showing treacherously attractive young woman from several different angles, and two of them were full of her snapshots.

The woman was sitting chained to her chair, calm and collected with an air of superiority. She had slightly wavy dark hair and deep blue eyes and she was wearing close-fitting green dress and matching high heels. Red caught himself examining her slim figure and long legs with interested eyes – his previous assessment of her being attractive was insufficient. She was quite breathtaking.

He scoffed at the thought. His humble opinion hardly mattered.

 “Well, Raymond… Anything you would like to say?”Harold was looking at him questioningly. Red sent one last fleeting look at the woman and then quirked an eyebrow at his friend.

“Ah, ok. There is a pretty lady sitting in there.” He said and gestured towards the screen. “She doesn’t look amused, but not bothered either.”

He admired the confidence she was displaying. For a third time in the last minute he wondered who she was and why Harold deemed it necessary to chain her like a criminal. Then again, since Harry had transferred, he had dealt only with criminals. Part of Red wished that he had transferred as well when he had the opportunity. It looked like his friend had much more interesting life than he had.

Red studied her again and felt slightly embarrassed that he couldn’t keep his eyes elsewhere. Dangerously breathtaking, that’s what she was.

“You don’t know her.” Harold announced surprised. “You honestly don’t know her.”

“I have never seen her before.” He would have remembered it;her eyes were the same shade of blue as the wide seas during a sunrise. It was his favorite color.

Harold believed him, of course. They had been friends for more than 25 years after all.

“Let me introduce you to the number four fromour Most Wanted Fugitives, then.”

Red startled a little and looked at Cooper with disbelief. Then he dragged his eyes back to her. She chose the exact moment to lift her head and look directly into one of the cameras. She smiled a lazy sensuoussmile and winked as if she knew they were talking about her.

“That’s Elizabeth Keen,the wife to one of the most ruthless freelance assassins we know of, and the only granddaughter and successor to Samuel Scott.”

While the name Keen was not familiar – Red was simply not interested in the FBI’s popularity conteststherefore didn’t pay attention to their top ten list –the name of Samuel Scott rang a bell. Scott had been a criminal mastermind operating an immense network of spies, thieves, smugglers, drug dealers, arms dealers, forgers, hackers, mercenaries, assassins… The list of his contacts could go on and on;military, private sector, politicians – hehad been able to procure or arrangesimply everything.

Red had seen firsthand some of Scott’s handy work – that had been a long time ago, when he had been a young man just starting his promising career. His crew had spent entire two days cleaning up the mess Mr. Scott’s men had left in their wake in a small hideaway of pirates who had double-crossed him.

“I didn’t know he had any family.” He said after several long moments of silence, rather disgusted with the way his thoughts were swirling back to the least noteworthy fact he had just discovered; that the woman was married to some young and very able man. Red was a trained professional and he knew damn well what kind of training job like that required.

“It hasn’t been… broadcasted.” Harold sighed. “We are even uncertain about her actual age and parentage. It’s as if everything about her was a lie.She just appeared eight years ago and took over Scott’s syndicate when he was killed.”

“How can you be certain she is related to Scott?” Red asked and watched more than a little fascinated as she licked her lips.

“We compared their DNA, and the family resemblance is rather striking. Anyway… Upon her capture, Mrs. Keen proposed a deal that my superiors consented to – after a very careful consideration and, uh, some demonstration on her part.”

“A deal? That sounds awfully like an immunity package for her with just scraps for you, Harry.”

Harold chuckled humorlessly.“More or less. I actually understand why she proposed it – it’s mutually beneficial. We will bring her rivals down. You know who her rivals are, right?”

“People you would like to see behind bars, or dead.” Red answered without missing a beat and his gaze fell on her face again. He knew that once it was done, Harold and his superiors just wouldn’t let her walk away.

“With pleasure, yeah.” Cooper ground his teeth.

“Splendid…” Red nodded to him and smiled broadly. “Now, could you enlighten me why are you telling me all of this and why did your men dragged me here? I had plans, you know.”

Harold looked uncomfortable and smiled tightly.

“Even though you don’t Keen, she certainly knows you. You are the only person she is willing to speak to and to work with. The whole deal stands on that condition.”

Those words surprised him and Red blinked owlishly and then burst out laughing. There was just no way in hell that someone criminal mastermind like Elizabeth Keen in her perfectly fitting designer dress and shoes who made millions even while sitting in a holding cell could know that there existed a man named Raymond Reddington.

Red’s thoughts came to a halt and he struggled with the idea. Keen would not be interested in Raymond Reddington, though Admiral Reddingtonwas definitely a noteworthy man. She could know who he was – people like her kept tabs about all the high profile individuals that might be useful to them in the future. It just didn’t make much sense – he was a naval officer and he didn’t hold much interest for people in her business. Certainly not that kind of assassin business Keen seemed to be interested in.

Harry grimaced and turned away from him, reaching for a glass of water.

“God, you are serious.”Red cleared his throat and tried to catch his breath.

He was almost successful but then he heard it.

“Agent Cooper?” Mrs. Keen voice was a perfect fusion of sensually deep and teasingly light. Red found it hard to breathe all at once and his eyes betrayed him and traced her figure once more. Then he focused on her lips as she continued.

“I don’t want to sound whiny but this is tedious. Could we get moving, please? Have you located Admiral Reddington yet? If not, I can lend you some of my men. They’re really good.”

Harold closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh. Then he reached for a microphone. “Just one more moment, Mrs. Keen.”

“So you did find him.” She nodded and crossed her legs. The smile she sent to them was charming. “Hello, Admiral Red. It would be nice to chat face to face, though.”

Both men grimaced at the same time but not for the same reasons. Harry looked annoyed – Mrs. Keen was obviously getting on his nerves. Red was on the other hand painfully aware that she was just playing with him – he had been hardly ever a recipient of a smile like that and he swallowed thickly.

“I don’t have the slightest idea what she wants from me. This is ridiculous, Harry.”

“Look, Red…” Harold turned off the screens and microphone and turned to him with a very grave expression. “You are not obliged to agree. It would put you in a dangerous situation and require you to work undercover. I know that it’s not something you are used to.However, this is a great opportunity for us to eliminate targets that are otherwise completely out of our reach.”

He remained silent for several long minutes and clenching and relaxing his hands into fists at his side. It was alluring; the idea of leaving his boring office and all the papers piled on his desk behind in the company of an attractive young woman to hunt down criminals… Hell, it was very alluring and Red wasn’t even sure why he was hesitating.

Then he remembered his embarrassing reaction to Mrs. Keen and he abruptly shook his head.Red had never been good with the opposite sex – as a young man he had been too shy to approach the pretty girls on his own and after his wife had packed up and left him with their daughter without any explanation, the realization had hit him full force; he simply didn’t have much to offer to any woman, least of all to an attractive and intelligent one.

“I have my own responsibilities, Harry.”His knuckles were turning white and he slowly forced his fists to relax. What possible reason Keen had to ask for him? Maybe she had made a mistake.

“I know you, Red, and a desk job must bore you. Fowler could pull some strings.” Harold said the name with obvious distaste and Red chuckled. Diane Fowler had been a pain in the ass for as long as he could remember.

“Are you sure she asked specifically for me?”

“Positive.”

Red closed his eyes and took a deep breath.Maybe Keen hadn’t made a mistake and there actually was something Red had to offer her? Though he hadn’t the slightest idea what it could be, it would be interesting to find out. The possibility that he might hold the interest of a woman such as Elizabeth Keen was a tantalizing one. Whatever the reason for that was, it may be the answer to prayers he hadn’t even thought of.

It could be his second chance at life. This time a life worth living. Or it could cost him his dignity and all self-respect, because there was no denying that he was completely smitten by the criminal. And he hadn’t even met her in person yet. Just the thought of this woman looking at him – and seeing through him – made him feel slightly ill.

“Alright. Count me in.” Red said roughly despite all his discomfort. He just couldn’t let this opportunity to slip through his fingers and it was suddenly very important to understand why Keen had chosen him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine.

Red wanted to approach her alone – their interaction would be monitored anyway, but he preferred at least the semblance of privacy. He was edgy and the actual presence of his friend would make him even more nervous;he felt embarrassed enough by his previous thoughts. Red was a practical man and he needed to focus on the fact that Keen was dangerous, especially for him.

The walk towards Keen’s box took only a few moments. The woman was smiling and watched him closely the whole time. He sat down and took a deep breath, forcing his body to be still under her scrutiny. He had shaved in the morning but he was dressed in a black sweatshirt and well-worn jeans –he had been just leaving – and his clothes were obviously not enough for a meeting with anyone, let alone her.

“Hello Mrs. Keen. I was told you asked for me.” Red’s deep voice was calm. That was a good thing.

“Hello Raymi.”She addressed him with hereyes mischievously sparkling, and Red’s carefully constructed mask of indifference shattered. He gaped at her. No one called him Raymi. Not even his mother had done that.

“I hoped you would be wearing your uniform;I have a thing for uniforms and you look so good in yours, honey.”

“I’m off duty.”Red gave her a look full of disbelief. “Not that it’s important…”

“And I’m so glad you finally decided to shorten your hair.” She nodded to herself and watched him with a pleased expression. “I like my men that way;sharply dressed and with cropped hair.”

What exactly she had meant by ‘her men’? Her employees or lovers? Red rubbed the top of his head inadvertently and blinked at her, trying very hard not to think about her preferences in men.

He had cut his hair only two days ago. How did she know how long it had been before?

“Have you been following me, Mrs. Keen?” He was pleased with himself – his answers came off more cutting that shocked. That was very, very good.

Keen laughed and tugged at her handcuffs. “Are they afraid I would try to – what? Strangle you? I am not into that sort of thing. Well, maybe if you ask nicely, I might be interested, but…”

His ears turned red and he cleared his throat before she could continue. “What can I do for you, Mrs. Keen?”

“A great deal of things, Raymi. But we will get to that later. For now it would be nice to simply come here and get these damned cuffs down. No?” She tossed her head back, her hair impressively cascading around her face. Red was sure that she had done that on purpose.She knew very well what effect she had on him – on men in general – and she shamelessly used it to make him feel uncomfortable.

He suddenly understood why Hal found her so irritating; ask her a question and she would say something unrelated – the more outrageous the better.

“Sorry, no keys.” He grumbled and rubbed his head again.

She burst out laughing and leaned forward. Red couldn’t help himself; his eyes slid down from her face to the neckline of her dress.He averted his gaze quickly and found her looking at him knowingly with a suggestive smile that made him swallow.

“Found something you like, Raymi?”She laced her fingers together, the two golden bands on the ring finger of her left hand catching Red’s attention. He immediately sobered.

“You wanted me here. What now, Mrs. Keen?”

“Oh, you are no fun,so straight to the point… Well, I couldn’t expect any better from a naval officer, now, could I?” Keen gave him a quick smile.

Red grimaced.“Perhaps you should have asked for a CIA agentinstead **(,)** if the FBI is not enough? I’ve heard they love to play these kinds of games, and that they are also superbtour guides.”

His dry tone surprised her and she examined him with renewed interest, amused smile playing across her lips. She nodded briefly, something like honesty flashing briefly behind her eyes.“I love your sense of humor. We’re going to be a great team, Raymi.”

The certainty in her voice and the use of the diminutive were enough to make him sigh heavily.Red was unable to describe the effect this woman had on him – her looks, her voice, her smiles and the things she kept saying combined together were just too much for him.He felt weary and tired and it was too early for this nonsense.

He needed to keep his distance; she couldn’t get under his skin. He couldn’t let her do that to him. “Why did you ask for me?”

“I’d like to get started, Raymi. Where’s Harold? We need those keys…”

Red cleared his throat and remained seated. “I believe I asked you a question, Mrs. Keen.”

“So you did. I chose not to answer, honey.” She breezily waved her hand and winked.

They stared at each other for a minute and then Red scowled, a muscle under his left eye twitching.

“I doubt you understand my situation.” He leaned forward now and watched her impassively, his admiral persona finally taking over. Mrs. Keen sat up straighter and gazed at him with narrowed eyes.

“Please do tell, Red.”

“You want me to do abandon my hard-earned position in the Navy to work undercover with you as if I were a mere… field agent of the FBI. I am not.”

She grinned, “Thank God for small mercies.”

He clenched his teeth and ignored her. “Give me a reason why I should consent to this. You’re not doingan adequate job of convincing me so far.”

The playful and relaxed woman who had enjoyed teasing him disappeared immediately and in her place was a cold and calculating criminal. Red stiffened, his sixth sense warning him to be prepared for an attack.

“You will do this, Raymi.” Her voice was steely and self-assured. She nodded at him. “You will work with me. I can’t make you, of course. Harold can’t make you. You are an admiral, and that comes with certain advantages; no one can really force you. But you will do it, no matter how much you think you don’t want to.”

“No.” Red stood up and turned. He started to walk away, blood thumping in his ears. She had sounded so certain…He simply wanted to prove her wrong. Red despised people who wanted to control him and she already had more control over him that any women in the last 20 years.

He should have known better than to believe that this could somehow help him break the stereotype of his life. This would have pulverizedthe pieces of his broken self to dust.

“You want to know what happened to your wife and daughter, do you not?”Keen called after him calmly.

Red stopped, his hands fisted and his eyes closed tightly. She had just not said that. She had not said that. With a great effort to remain calm, he turned back to her.

She was inspecting her fingernails – they were painted green to match her dress and shoes, but they were not too long; that would be too impractical for someone who needed to be cautious and ready to kill. He briefly wondered what she was capable of – could she kill him with a nail file? He bet she could.

He was actually looking at a killer. Strange, Red had known that before, but the fact had registered just now.Was… what was she suggesting? That she knew something about his family?

It had been more than twenty five years since his wife left him and his family had been torn apart. It still pained him, like a wound that refused to heal. He had searched for them, of course, and he never stopped. His wife – her betrayal – had left him with bitter taste in the mouth, but it was the image of his sweet little girl that kept him going. He didn’t know where they were, if they were alive, he didn’t know how his now adult daughter might look like – he didn’t know anything and sometimes Red thought that the lack of information would drive him insane.

Her eyes glanced in his direction and she made a surprised sound.

“You‘re still here, honey?” She blinked several times with an expression of false astonishment. “I thought you were leaving.”

“What… do… you… know… about… my… family?” Red stalked towards her, each word was hissed through clenched teeth and he was not asking a question, he was demanding an answer. His family was off limits topic. Keen was obviously well informed about his life, so she was well aware of that.

He loomed over her in a heartbeat and was actually shocked back into reality when he saw her flinch. It was just a fraction of a second – more a tightness in her eyes than an actual movement of her body – but it had told him about her more than he wanted to know. She had been expecting a blow and Red was deeply, deeply ashamed that she had expected it from him.

His shoulders slumped, his gaze softened for a moment, and he let out a deep breath.“What do you know about my family?”

His silent apology was accepted just as silently– Keen’s eyes brightened and both of them knew that she had him exactly where she wanted him to be. Maybe her reaction, the fear in her deep blue irises had been just a ploy to snap him out of his rage?

He could hardly blame her for it. Red was fearsome when he was angry. It wasn’t something he liked about himself – but then again, there wasn’t much he did like about himselfanyway.

“Now, Raymi, this is hardly the time and place to discuss this.”

She didn’t confirm it but she didn’t deny it, so he nodded. Maybe she knew something and that was enough for him, at least for now. Even the tiniest bit of hope of finding his little girl would make him do anything. Of course Keen must know that. Maybe that’s the reason why she had asked for him. Why else would she have mentioned it?

He should not jump to conclusions, though, it was too soon – and Keen’s reasons were her own. He had a better chance of discovering the truth if he would cooperate with her. That’s what she wanted. That’s his only chance. It was so damn obvious that she would tell them only what she wanted them to know and when she wanted them to know it.

He fished out the keys from his pocket reluctantly. Patience, patience.

“Aha, I knew you have the keys!” Keen smiled widely. Upon seeing her smile Red suppressed his dark thoughts. It was dangerously appealing smile.

“No, you did not.” Red felt his lips tugging upwards as he unlocked her cuffs and then tried in vain to avert his eyes while she stretched her limbs. He liked what he saw. He liked it very much indeed.

When she was finally standing next to him, Red discovered that she was a tall woman – with her shoes on she was only slightly shorter than him. She then reached out and touched his hair with a wicked grin.

“Hmm, so soft. I like that.”  The suggestive smile was back on her face and she casually put her arm through his and started to tug him along before Red managed to form a reply. Her expensive perfume was light and sweet, but Red enjoyed the smell of her hair more. He loved strawberries.

Red was certain that this was her usual modus operandi. She touched him, she teased him, she flirted with him – with any man – and it was no big deal. He was beyond embarrassed, beyond mortified by his behavior, thoughts and reactions. Worst of all, having her so close to him didn’t bother him in the slightest. The warmth of her body was seeping through the layers of his clothes and washed away all the remaining tension in his muscles.It was almost dizzying.

He welcomed it, heevenenjoyed it. It had been far too long since he actually felt this alive – hot and cold, but alive.It felt like flying or swimming in a cool soothing water after a long day spent underthemerciless sun. Red well knew how pathetic he was being. He tried to control the whirlwind of his thoughts and confusing feelings but he was not very successful. The pain Keen had so effortlessly brought to the surface lingered, the pleasure of her closeness was tainted with remorse at his previous behavior.

Oh, what she did to him!

Then he decided that for the remainder of their walk to Harold’s office, he would shut off all thinking altogether and simply breathe in and out and enjoy strawberries. It didn’t require thinking or feeling. Of course, he was unable toget Keen out of his mind when she was so close to him, and quickly glanced down at her.He caught her observing him.

“I’m sorry, Raymi.”

“What for?”

“For making you upset with me.” Her free hand landed on his forearm and she squeezed it.Red shook his head and continued walking, this time he was the one who tugged her along. He knew her apology probably wasn’t genuine, just another calculated move, but it was nice to hear, nonetheless.

Keen dug her heels in and Red obediently stopped. She resumed walking at her own pace and gave him a sweet **,** cheeky smile. He shook his head again and grumbled, “I’m not a gumball machine, Mrs. Keen. You don’t just get to push my buttons like that and expect a treat.”

Her laughter made him smile, again. She needed to stop doing that or he needed to learn how to ignore it. In spite of the situation, Red was smiling like an idiot an awful lot around her; orlike a lovesick teenager. He didn’t know which possibility was worse, so he focused on the only thing that felt real in this terrible morning: her touch. Keen’s hand was on his arm grounding him.

“Of course not, honey.”She patted his forearm fondly. He looked down at her and his vision filled with the color of the wide seas during a sunrise. “However, you’d make a wonderful teddy bear… Or a pillow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited by a wonderful artemisfae. Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine.

Keen was not happy about this delay, Red mused. She had insisted on bringing her own bodyguards. Cooper had been reluctant, and they had argued about it for hours. In the end, Keen had supplied a list of candidates from which the authorities had been instructed to choose the least offensive ones. Fowler had been going over it for three days now and her verdict was nowhere in sight.

Red understood Keen’s exasperation perfectly. Fowler obviously had the rare ability to irritate every person who came into any form of contact with her, and Elizabeth Keen was no exception. Yet Mrs. Keen was not the type of person to simply accept Fowler’s bureaucratic bullying and whatever Liz had planned had been held up until her bodyguards arrived. 

In the meantime, Red had had to suffer through FBI crash course with Agent Ressler. The boy had meant well – but Red had started to wish that he’d slip on a banana peel and break his neck after only two hours in Ressler’s company.

Ressler had been on Keen’s case for the last three years and was understandably upset that he had become suddenly her subordinate, and that a ‘navy guy’ was supposed to work with the holy FBI without any actual field training. Ressler went by the book – insanely by the book – and this change of situation had evidently shattered his whole black-and-white world.

Red had received the same training that Harold had– in tactics, strategy, command and control, and yes, even actual combat situations of all possible kinds; he could lead a whole damned fleet as easily as he could handle a street brawl. However he had chosen not to mention it in front of Ressler. The boy would surely have a heart attack.

His phone rang and Red decided to ignore it. He was tired, off duty, a little drunk and it was 10 p.m. He didn’t care who it was and what they wanted. He was not answering.

It kept ringing for a full minute and then it finally stopped.

Red heaved a satisfied sigh and let his head drop back, closing his eyes. It could have been Liz; he would like to think so. Red smiled and took a sip of his scotch. He had spent shamefully long periods of time thinking about that woman in the last three days; usually in the moments when he had been left alone with his wandering thoughts.

During his lunch breaks he called her Liz and thought about what she could like and dislike – food, colors, movies, music.When he was driving, he called her Elizabeth and wondered what she knew about his family and how to make her talk. During nights she was Lizzie and Red had a lot of fun guessing her likes and dislikes in bed. In his bed she was his Lizzie.

He almost fell asleep when there was a loud pounding on his front door. Not amused, he rose, stumbled through the darkness in his house and opened it.

On the other side was standing Keen. This evening she was wearing a blue coat and even in the faint light from the street lamps he could tell it emphasized her eyes beautifully.

“Mrs. Keen. I don’t mean to sound rude, but what do you want?” Red was in no condition to deal with her tonight, not after the afternoon date he had had with Ressler and the old case files the boy had brought with him. Not after he had spent the last half an hour thinking about her as Lizzie.

“You didn’t answer your phone.” She shrugged and breezed into his house, passing him without a second glance. She did sniff the air around him, though. “Have you been drinking again, Raymi?”

“Uh.” Red rubbed his head tiredly and followed her, blinking in the sudden light. She must have turned it on, though he hadn’t noticed her reaching for the switch. “Is there an emergency, Mrs. Keen?”

“There is.” She sat down on his couch and examined his glass on the table. Then she cheekily took a sip, smiling. “And I thought I told you. My name is Liz.”

“I know.” Of course Red knew – he just didn’t trust himself enough to call her by her given name. That would not end well; he could so easily slip and call her Lizzie… And how would he be able to separate his fantasies from reality then? 

Their interaction had been thankfully minimal in the last few days; Keen had had her own business to keep her occupied. Whenever she had spoken to him, however, his ears had turned red and his mind spiraled right in the gutter. Red knew that she would be appalled should she ever find out about his new favorite pastime.

He was appalled himself; he was old enough to be her father and they knew each other how long? Three damned days. He just couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop it – and he didn’t want to; these thoughts about Keen were lighter and safer than most of Red’s thoughts had been in the last few years.

 “That’s a fine scotch you have here, Raymi.” She smiled a softer smile, tracing lightly with her finger the place where his lips had touched the glass. Red watched he movement and she knew it. “How drunk are you? We have a work to do.”

“Tonight?” Red partly blamed her, though – all her teasing and innuendos were not helping him to stay focused. She obviously enjoyed seeing him uncomfortable and embarrassed.

“No, on Wednesday. Of course tonight, Red! Pay attention. Perhaps a shower would be in order? I could sponge your back…”

“No, thank you.” Red cleared his throat and focused very hard on a simple task – not to imagine Mrs. Keen in the shower, let alone in his shower and company. “What kind of work? I thought you won’t lift a finger until your bodyguards arrive.”

“They are on their way.” She abruptly stood up and started walking towards the stairs, switching the lights on in the entire house. Red followed her bemusedly after a second.

She knew his house well – where the lamps were, which stair creaked – and he simply didn’t want to know how it was possible. Yet he asked, “Have you ever been in here?”

“Hmm-hm.” Keen marched into his bedroom. Somehow, her impudence and confidence were expectable and Red would have been more shocked if she behaved reservedly.

“You know, this is beginning to look like an obsession, Mrs. Keen. It’s rather intrusive.” He was still trailing behind her, curious about what she would do in his bedroom.Wasn’t that an exhilarating thought?

“Let’s just say that you are my hobby, Raymi. My favorite hobby.” She slipped into his bathroom and he followed excitedly. Perhaps it was him who was obsessed? With all the things Keen could do to him, or he to her…

“Why?”

“Why are we in your bathroom? So you can have a shower, of course.” Keen winked at him and smiled. He knew that she was not being serious, unfortunately.

“Why am I your favorite hobby?” Red shook his head, exasperated.

“Ah, I don’t know. You are fun to talk to, even when you are a little drunk. Now, go on, take a shower. I’ll get your clothes for the evening.”

Red blinked at her and she grinned.

“Or would you like me to get rid of your clothes instead? My offer about your back still stands, honey.”

She was eyeing him in an unsettling way – like a predator eyed his prey. Red had never been subjected to that kind of look, never. His ears turned red and he swallowed loudly. Her eyes were so damned blue and she looked quite serious – as if she liked the idea. For a moment, just the tiniest split second, he considered saying yes.

Then his natural shyness kicked in. He didn’t have the guts to speak and behave like her, like it didn’t mean anything. Maybe it didn’t for her, but Red was not that kind of man and never had been. A purely sexual attraction was something that he was wary of because he considered sex as something very intimate – not necessarily act of love, but something that forced him to give up control, to trust the other person at least fractionally and that was very dangerous without actual emotions involved.

The question was – was he attracted to Keen on a purely sexual level? The intensity of their connection – because it was some sort of connection – was frightening, but where was his usual wariness?

“Ah, your loss.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Shower, Red. Now.”

With that, she slipped out of the bathroom and closed the door quietly, leaving Red wondering if it might have been disappointment what he had glimpsed in her eyes.

Surely not.

He followed Keen’s order – it was a good point, he needed to be sober if he wanted to be of any use. After that he found the clothes she wanted him to wear tonight. Red shook his head while he was putting it on, and then grinned at his reflection in the mirror; it was a uniform of a captain. It had been years since he had worn one himself.

Wandering downstairs, he found Mrs. Keen occupying his couch and sipping his drink. She had discarded her coat and Red enjoyed the view her closely fitting navy blue dress offered him.

“Looking good, Captain.” She grinned and observed him with sparkling eyes.

“Really, a captain? What have I done to earn this demotion, Mrs. Keen?” Red smiled back softly and awkwardly moved into the room. She was still watching him and it was unnerving.

“I felt like dating a sea captain tonight.”

He chuckled, suppressing the pang of something inside of his chest at the word ‘date’. “What’s wrong with an admiral?”

“Ah, you know these top-ranking naval officers; too straight to the point, too much conforming to the rules…” Keen motioned towards him. “But a captain! Now that’s fun.”

“If you believe so.” Red tilted his head to the side and rubbed his neck. “What is the plan, Mrs. Keen?”

“We are going out.” She stood up and reached for her coat. Red swiftly crossed over to her, took it from her hands and helped her put it on. “Thank you, honey.”

He smiled in response and wasn’t even surprised when she linked their arms. They slowly made their way outside, Red switching off the lights in the house with his free hand.

“You are rather sweet tonight, Raymi, a real gentleman.” Keen commented then and pulled him down the street. “I appreciate it. I don’t get to meet men like that in my line of work.”

They stopped in front of a shiny black Mercedes and she offered him the car key. Red blinked at her hand and took it. Then he opened the passenger door for her and she slipped in with a pleased expression.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Mrs. Keen.” He said after he had gotten into the car and fastened his seatbelt. What about her husband? Surely he was a well-mannered man. Red frowned at the thought – she deserved to be treated properly. “Where to?”

She gave him the directions and relaxed in her seat. For a man who disliked being controlled he enjoyed too much the way she smiled at him when he did as she asked. Red scoffed lightly at the thought and pulled away slowly. When he was acquainted with the on-road performance of her expensive car, he securely sped up, glancing at Keen from time to time. She had her eyes closed, breathing deeply. For a second Red believed that she had fallen asleep.

“Where are you staying tonight? I could drive you home, Mrs. Keen.” He said softly. He knew how often she switched her safe houses, she had informed Harry the first day that no one in the FBI would know her exact location except for Red and even Red would know only in the case she would decide to tell him.

“Oh, no, no. You’re not getting rid of me tonight.” She smiled, her eyes still closed. “Keep on driving.”

“Hmm. What is the objective of this night, then?”

“We are going to practice for our future… performances.”

Red cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders, raising an eyebrow. “So there is actually no emergency and no reason why you invaded my home and forced me into a captain uniform?”

“There was an emergency. I was bored…”

He suppressed the urge to slam on the brakes.

“… and we do need to train, Raymi. You will accompany me to a number of formal and an awful lot of informal gatherings. Not Harold, not Ressler or any other clumsy agent.You.”

“Alright.” Red shuddered when he imagined Agent Ressler conspicuously hiding behind some inconspicuous bush. “What’s the cover story, then?”

“You will be my lover.”

“What?” He sputtered. Keen laughed and the pleasant sound kept ringing in Red’s ears. Then she added cheerfully,“Well, you can always be my father.”

Red did slam on the brakes now and turned to her. Her eyebrows rose and she blinked at him, surprised at his painful expression. There was only one person in the world who could claim that Red was her father.

He clenched his jaw and then the car started to move slowly again. The sudden silence inside was so uncomfortable than even Mrs. Keen started to look slightly subdued. He was gripping the wheel so tightly that his knuckles cracked and she noticed. Of course she noticed.

“Lover it is, then.” She said dully and patted his shoulder in what Red understood was her way of apologizing, and he felt instantly ashamed. She shouldn’t have felt the need to apologize; it had been only an innocent, absolutely harmless joke. He had overreacted.

Her hand stayed on his arm, sliding down to his upper arm and then his forearm as if she was trying to calm him down.“For me, it’s not unusual to bring my lovers along, anyway. Explaining where I had a father hidden all these years, well, that could have been a problem.”

He nodded and his hands relaxed slightly. The idea of Lizzie, a married woman, bringing lovers to her meetings was making him both excited and anxious. Excited because that meant that her marriage was obviously not working, and anxious for reasons Red didn’t wish to analyze.

When her hand retracted, he felt the loss of her warmth keenly and suppressed a sigh. His mind turned to the matter at hand then – his role as her lover.

“How… how am I to act towards you, Mrs. Keen?” Red’s voice was a little rough.

“Like a lover would, Raymi. Touches and glances at least, you are a gentleman, so nothing more… convincing will be necessary.” Keen shook her head with a smile and started to fluff her hair. “And for God’s sake, call me by my given name.”

Red nodded and swallowed. They arrived at their destination – a newly opened club – and he unhappily took a deep breath as he cut the engine. How would he treat Keen should she be his lover? He had no problems picturing it, doing it. How he would keep his sanity intact in the process Red didn’t know.

He rounded the car and helped her out, his hand staying at the small of her back. Keen stepped closer to him and winded her arm around him, smiling cheekily.

“See? Not that bad.”

“Not that bad.” Red agreed and reluctantly pulled her closer. She fit surprisingly well against his body and he was certain that this was how dying felt like. It was the sweetest agony he could imagine. It was heaven. It was hell. His heart surely stopped and then thudded in his chest painfully. He struggled to breath regularly, tried not to let her know how affected he was.

Her perfume was spicy tonight, heady and seductive. He shouldn’t have breathed in so deeply.

Keen shifted and stepped slightly away to give him some space, her knowing eyes serious. Her voice was calming and soothing and so very gentle when she spoke, “Let’s go, honey. Just for a little while, and we’ll see if you can get comfortable, ok?”

She was coaxing him like she would coax a small child, her voice so warm and soothing. Keen would make a great mother someday. Red closed his eyes for a second and when he looked down at her, he nodded all the while wondering how much did she actually know about him and what she saw when she looked at him.

She didn’t see Admiral Reddington. She didn’t even see Red. Whom she did see, then?

“Raymi?” Keen tugged at his arm to get his attention. “Come on, I’d like to have a drink.”

“Whatever you wish, sweetheart.” Red answered hoarsely. There was a slight hesitation in Keen’s steps and then she gave him and approving smile that quickened Red’s pulse once more.

Suddenly Red knew he was doomed to suffer; not only tonight but tomorrow as well – and the day after tomorrow and the day after that… Possibly for the whole duration of their acquaintance. With every smile and every touch of Elizabeth Keen he would die a thousand deaths and he would be resurrected a thousand times.

Was this madness?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank you al for your responses. I do love to know what you think about this little experiment of mine :)


	4. Chapter 4

Red had survived two hours and thirty minutes in the club, downed three sodas and had been talked into two dances. All and all, it had been a successful evening because he hadn’t made a fool of himself – not even once.

Keen had been ecstatic about his performance, commenting on how sweet and attentive he had been to her and how gently and carefully he had maneuvered them on the dance floor.

It had cut him in half, those words.

He had driven Keen to her safe house and then taken a cab home and now he was both dreading and masochistically looking forward to their meeting at 9 o’clock. Her bodyguards would be there, and Fowler’s pet CIA agent had reported in an hour ago.They could finally start.

He was sitting in the office Harry had assigned him and watched his colleague disinterestedly; Ressler was playing with his notepad and pencil, frowning. It was almost 9 and Keen was nowhere in sight which had to grant on Donald’s nerves. He so hated tardiness.

On his desk, Red’s phone buzzed and both men looked at it. The pencil snapped when Ressler gripped it too tightly. Red gave him a warning look and picked it up. Nick’s Pizza.

“Yes?”

“Hello Raymi. How are you?” It sounded like she was driving.

“Good morning, Mrs. Keen, I’m quite well, thank you. Agent Ressler wants to know where you are.” Red grinned at Donald who sprang from his seat and stepped close enough to hear her answer.

“On my way, honey. Is our CIA tour guide ready, or do we need to wait for him?”

“He’s here.” He gazed at Ressler pointedly, not appreciating the way the agent was invading his personal space.

“Ok. Tell Donald to stop eavesdropping…” Red chuckled and Ressler huffed and took a step back, crossing his arms. The look on his face was priceless.

“What are you wearing today?” Keen whispered seductively and Red closed his eyes briefly and swallowed.Her line of questions would probably lead to phone sex.

“A suit.”

“Hmm. What color?”

“Is it so important that you need to know right now?” His voice sounded a little gruff and Red cleared his throat. It was way too early for her usual games.“There’s no need to play these roles on the phone without an audience.”

“I hope that the color is a dark one, Red.” The line went silent and he released a deep sigh.

“Is she coming?” Ressler gave him a dubious look, obviously worried.

“It appears so. Let’s inform Agent Cooper.” Red scowled at the young man and rose from his seat. He had discovered a pattern – Keen called him Red only when she was exasperated or annoyed with him.

They had gathered in the large room with all those flat screens for the briefing and waited. Red dubbed it the ‘War Room’ because his colleagues had grim faces and tense postures whenever they passed through it, which he found rather amusing. He couldn’t remember being that stressed out by being in an actual war room.

Harry was going through an enormous pile of paperwork and he looked utterly bored. Ressler was pacing around and checking his watch. The CIA agent was calmly leaning against a desk, successfully blending with the background. How he did it was a mystery; he was a tall and extremely muscular man with dark eyes, chocolate colored skin, shaven hair and almost no eyebrows.

Red was observing them with interest – he didn’t want to mull over the curt tone Keen had used on the phone. She really had sounded annoyed and Red didn’t wish to make her angry at him. Quite pathetic, really.

It was quarter past nine when Keen breezed in. Today she was wearing a deep red dress, sinfully close-fitting, and a shade darker coat. She was carrying a parcel under her left arm, her purse clutched in the other hand. Her expression was neutral, almost disinterested while she took in the men in front of her.

“Good morning, gentlemen.” She waltzed towards them and stopped in front of the only man who she hadn’t met in person. “You must be the CIA.”

“Dembe Zuma.” He slowly straightened and they shook hands, assessing each other.

“Hmm, it’s so nice to finally see you face to face. You don’t look like their standard stock.” Keen gave him a small smile suspiciously bordering on friendly and moved to shed her coat.

Her dress should be illegal. Red clasped his hands together and swallowed, suppressing the instinct to leap forward and take her coat, to touch her in passing – seemingly accidentally, of course.

“May I?” Zuma raised his big hands and helped her out of the coat. Then he grinned. “That’s why I was transferred here.”

Red observed their interaction with curiosity – Zuma hadn’t said much in their presence until now and Keen behaved almost like a professional. It looked like these two just hit it off and Red suddenly wished to have this easy-going relation with Keen himself. His knuckles turned white momentarily before he relaxed his hands.

In that moment, Keen moved towards him, looking him over briefly. Without even a hint of a smile she nodded to herself once and gave him the box with a brusque,“Here.”

“Keen.” Harry closed his files, stood up and motioned for her to come closer to the screens. “We’re waiting.”

“Patience, Agent Cooper.” She stepped away from Red, her sweet perfume lingering in the air, and opened her purse. “Oh, by the way, could you inform the security to let my people in? They should be arriving just about… now.”

Red was holding the parcel with a perplexed expression and watched her march to one of their computers, unsure what to do with that box. He was not a guard dog to keep it for her.

“You gave location of this black site to individuals without the required clearance?” Cooper sounded frustrated.

“They are my people, you should trust me on this. Harold, please?” Keen didn’t give a damn. 

Harry heaved a long-suffering sigh and did as she had asked while Keen plugged a flash drive in. He had apparently come to the conclusion that arguing with her was pointless – as any sensible and married man would know, arguing with a strong-minded woman always was.

Red was glad that he wasn’t the only one who was bossed around. 

When Cooper was done speaking, Keen showed them a picture of their officially first target; a man in his late thirties, blond and handsome with crystal blue eyes. 

Red’s expression darkened and he put down the box; he knew that man and Harry’s sharp intake of breath indicated that he remembered Lieutenant Moore quite well, too.

“To those who haven’t had the dubious honor yet, let me introduce you Vincent Moore, a former lieutenant of our esteemed naval forces, nowadays a very successful arms dealer.”

“Now that’s a face I didn’t need to see again.” Red commented and frowned. He had taken it rather personally when the young man under his command had proved to be a liar and a traitor.

“I believe he would be delighted to meet you again, though.” Keen flashed him a brief mocking smile and nodded to the picture. “You know, he would love to see how the mighty have fallen.”

“I don’t quite follow, Mrs. Keen.” Red tilted his head to the side.

She moved to stand right in front of him. Red instinctively held his breath – smelling her shampoo would have been pure torture – but otherwise remained still. Keen watched him for a second and then reached around him for the parcel and opened it. She pulled out a dark blue fedora roughly corresponding with the color of his suit, and a red tie. The tie and the band of the hat were exactly the same shade of red as her dress.

That had been the reason why she had asked about the color of his suit. Red wanted to slap himself, but was too preoccupied by Keen’s closeness. What would she do now?

“I am meeting dear Vincent for lunch today,” Keen put the hat on Red’s head while he stood there transfixed, “and I promised to bring along my supplier…”  her nibble fingers undid his blue tie and pulled it off, “who happens to be an unnamed admiral with access to…” and replaced it with her red one, “discarded equipment.”

Her eyes were sparkling and Red knew that he had been forgiven. She adjusted the tie and smoothed his jacket.

“We match now, like a proper couple.” She gave him his old tie, took a step back and smiled broadly – not knowing how painfully her words pierced him. “Now, look at you, Raymi, you clean up nicely. I love the vest.”

He cleared his throat and glanced around. Zuma looked amused, Ressler was giving him a pitying look and Harry was glancing towards the entrance. He felt his ears turning red and he swallowed, but before he could say anything, Keen’s attention was caught by someone else.

“I see you are seducing poor defenseless naval officers, now. Shame on you, Liz.” A pleasantly accented voice said. Red turned around in search for its owner.

The woman who had spoken was small, lithe and attractive with her exotic features and a wicked smile. She looked at Red appreciatively and nodded. “The hat is hot.” 

“Of course it is. I chose it!” Keen exclaimed and they enthusiastically embraced like old friends, kissing each other’s cheeks. “Meera, it’s been far too long!”

“Very true. Good morning.” She gave them a small grin and waited for Keen to introduce her. Her stance was relaxed, but Red noticed than despite her nice pants suit suitable for a business woman, she wore flat shoes instead of high heels and he believed that she could spring into action easily. There was something lethal about her.

“This is Meera Malik, my dearest friend. You better watch out, Donald, she loves handsome blondes and decorated agents especially.” Keen said, but didn’t bother to introduce others to her – Malik looked like she knew them already if her previous words had been any indication.

Ressler shuffled his feet and scowled at them, looking both exasperated and smugly pleased at the same time. Harry’s face was carefully impassive while he nodded to Malik and Red wondered if he knew her. Zuma crossed his arms and frowned.

“Of course, some of you already heard of Meera, am I right?” Keen continued and both women wickedly smiled again. Red started to feel slightly uncomfortable face to face with so much roguish – and female –playfulness. It put him on edge.

“Meera here had an opportunity to work for the CIA, but I managed to persuade her to work for me instead.”

“I, on the other hand, didn’t need much in the way of persuasion!”

Keen’s other bodyguard finally made his way in. Red immediately registered one fact – the bodyguard was a male. He passed Red and stood with his back partly turned to him, unaware of Red’s thorough observation. He was taller and much slimmer than Red, with thick black hair and neatly trimmed goatee. He was handsome and moved with a deadly grace. Red didn’t like him instantly.

“Aram!”

He opened his arms and Keen flew towards him. They embraced and he lifted her up easily, his jacket sliding of and showing a pair of guns in his shoulder holsters. Their show of affection made Red grit his teeth – and then he choked, his eyes widening.

The two of them shamelessly proceeded to kiss passionately – Keen’s feet were still dangling in the air, her hands resting on his shoulders while he was holding her round the waist tightly.

Was he trying to eat Keen’s face? Red felt sick and turned away, refusing to meet anyone’s eye, while his colleagues exchanged shocked glances. He crumpled the tie in his fist and suppressed the urge to strangle this Aram with it.

It took them only a moment – which resembled an eternity to Red – and Keen was on her feet and putting some distance between their faces. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were burning.

How Red wished she would look like that at him … not at that… that boy! He didn’t want her mischievous sparks, Red wanted her all-consuming fire.

“I missed you.” She told Aram, not paying attention to her surroundings.

Red tightened the tie between his hands, unconsciously forming a perfect strangling tool, and stared straight ahead. He certainly didn’t like the intimate undertone in Keen’s voice.

“Oh, I missed you, too, Liz.” Red hated the intimate undertone in his much, much more.

Keen’s bodyguard put his arm around her – and she let him, fumed Red – and they turned to the rest of the visibly embarrassed occupants of the room.

“This is Aram Mojtabai.” Keen said simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. If he and Malik were the least offensive candidates from her list, Red didn’t want to know who had been the others. Keen didn’t offer any other information about Mojtabai, and she continued with her briefing about Moore.

While she was speaking mostly to Red about their cover story, her attention was focused on the screens and papers that Malik had readily passed her. It was a good thing, too, because Red was listening only partly. Half of his brain focused on their mission, true, but the other half was furiously focused on Keen.

Wasn’t she married, for God’s sake? Red shook his head inwardly and scowled. Faithfulness was not her thing, that much she had said to him before, so he shouldn’t be surprised – and he shouldn’t feel betrayed either. She was not his wife, nor his lover – not even his friend. She was his colleague, informant, and his partner. It would do him good to remember that.

Red’s problem lied in the fact that he had acted like her lover the previous night. He had touched Keen in the same way Mojtabai was touching her right now, he had mapped the curves of her body and this knowledge had burnt itself in his memory. It had been a pretense… for her. For Red, it had been very much real and he was incredibly ashamed for his burning desire to touch her again, to feel her again.

He wanted to do it right now; to march to Keen and shake her world, to sweep her off her feet. However, he had a feeling that was the last thing Keen wanted from him.

Red scowled and turned his attention to Mojtabai. While Malik stood in some distance from her boss, he was moving with Keen in perfect sync. When she took a step towards the screens, Mojtabai moved, when she stepped back, he was copying her – as if he was pulled by some kind of magnetic force between them.

Red hated it; he hated the sight of it, he hated his hands on her, he hated his eyes on her, he hated the secretive smile he was giving her, the way how good he looked beside her… To put it simply, Raymond Reddington hated Aram Mojtabai and everything connected to him; Elizabeth Keen most of all.

What had she done to him?

**Author's Note:**

> Edited by artemisfae. Thank you!


End file.
